cultural protectionism
The fine line that used to separate human beings from animals was the phenomenon of speech and imagination. But the great divide between the two was human ability to define and build a culture. What really is a culture? Culture in many forms is defined by language and behavior as key elements. In the words of Stevenson (1994), "Human beings could create and invent and influence their environment as well as respond to it. The collected experience, stored in language, was a culture". Cultures, just like the evolution of species, keep on evolving. Evolving cultures follow the same pattern as defined by Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The strong and the fittest survive. There is a process of natural selection wherein the good influences get carried across while the bad wither away. But just like in living species, there is protectionism built into every culture. There is always a fear of external cultures eroding the value systems and behavior patterns of an existing culture (Stevenson, 1994)One can infer from the various chapter readings that in the benefit of mankind, cultures should freely diffuse without any opposition that is artificially induced by political bodies. The
Secondly one would want to address the most frequent claim that is put forward to recommend cultural protectionism, and to distinguish it from economic tariffs. This is the claim that there is something called "cultural identity" or "national identity", which cultural protectionism is required to guard, and that the arts are central to the definition and expression of. (In economic terms, the identity argument is, in effect, a positive externality argument: the services that the cultural sector performs for our national identity benefit us all, but that sector cannot be compensated adequately for them through ordinary markets. Hence the need for anti-competitive measures like quotas, or limitations upon the entry of foreign performers, books, and CDs into the nation.) It is rational to suggest that the notion of "national identity" is not only driven with internal contradiction, but also implies a limited and unproductive view of the arts, and of their function in individual and social life. Once even the national identity carpet has been pulled out from under its feet it becomes obvious that cultural protectionism cannot remain standing for long. Closely related to the infant industry argument is the argument that says we wouldn't have a publishing/film/television/music/advertising industry without protectionism. Again one will point out that there are any number of industries a nation does not have that would thrive there instantly if only they banned imports but only at an enormous cost to the rest of the nation's economy. There are two points that can be analyzed when looking at the idea of "Cultural Protectionism" and efforts taken by various nations to protect their culture. First, one should look at the relationship between economic and cultural protectionism, and argue that, many suggestions to the contrary notwithstanding, they are not really different at all: cultural protectionism can be easily reduced to economic protectionism or in other words 'economic patriotism'. It has the same sources, di
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1367
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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